Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States, 1928, Volume I

500.A15/665: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Chief of the American Representation on the Preparatory Commission (Gibson)

[Paraphrase]

Washington, March 13, 1928—3 p.m.

1. Your telegrams 4, 5, 6, and 7.¹⁵ Apparently you received the impression from my telegram No. 23, February 28, 1 p.m. that it was my desire that you take an opportunity to discuss, in an address before the Commission, our pending negotiations in regard to arbitration, conciliation, and the Briand proposal for the renunciation of war. Such was not my intention at all. Your proposed speech, and indeed any statement of such a nature, would without doubt be interpreted as an invitation from the United States virtually to transfer to Geneva our pending negotiations and open them to detailed discussion before the Conference. The agenda of the Conference does not include these matters, and I shall not assent to their being placed on the agenda or to their being brought into the Conference indirectly. If others should mention this Government’s attitude in regard to arbitration, conciliation, or renunciation of war, it would be necessary for you to do nothing more than make a declaration that this Government’s attitude has been set forth clearly in the published correspondence in the pending negotiations. The documents were transmitted to you for your information and, if desirable for Commission’s information, to be furnished to it. You are directed, therefore, not to make the proposed speech, or any speech, regarding the subject.

An address which is to be delivered by me in New York on the evening of March 15 will contain a further public declaration of the policy of the United States in regard to war prevention.¹⁶ Paris has been supplied by cable with the text of this address, and has been instructed to forward it to the principal missions in Europe, including Geneva, and by this time you should have it.

Kellogg

15. Telegrams Nos. 4, 6, and 7 not printed.
16. For text, see The War Prevention Policy of the United States: An Address by Honorable Frank B. Kellogg, Secretary of State of the United States, Delivered before the Council on Foreign Relations at New York City, March 15, 1928 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1928).